Meh - Climate Hawks Vote reacts to Tim Kaine pick

Kaine talks passionately about the urgent threat of global warming, but his only solution is to embrace the fossil-fuel industry. Whether it’s coal, fracking, or oil drilling, Kaine has been there time and again with fulsome praise. And then he warns his constituents about sea level rise. And then he says the Trans Pacific Partnership is good for the environment.

While in the Senate, Kaine has not demonstrated strong support for renewables, which is troubling as a vice presidential pick given Hillary Clinton’s oft-repeated desire to make the United States the clean energy superpower of the world. And he’s never authored a climate or clean energy bill.

The tough and sophisticated Climate Hawks Vote scorecard delves into the public record, not just votes, of members of Congress. Senator Tim Kaine scored +28 (our scorecard ranges from +100 to -100) in the 113th Congress, which is in the middle of the Democratic Senators’ pack.

Kaine’s climate politics are in line with his other views: overly friendly to corporate power, on the moderate-to-right-wing of the Democratic Party. It’s not what the country needs, and it’s certainly not what will help Hillary Clinton appeal to the millions of progressive voters awakened by the Bernie Sanders campaign.

“Kaine has not yet earned the support of climate voters. Kaine might be a fledgling climate hawk - this month he participated in the Web of Denial speech-a-thon, calling out the fossil-fuel industry's decades of climate deception. But Kaine needs to stop advocating for clean coal, fracked gas, and offshore oil, and start advocating for clean solar and offshore wind, if he wants the United States to be the clean energy superpower of the world,” says RL Miller, cofounder of Climate Hawks Vote.

Miller adds: "We're continuing our fight for aggressive climate policy - by focusing on House and Senate races, not a VP pick."

About Climate Hawks Vote: We're a grassroots-funded organization building political power for the climate movement. Hatched in 2014, we endorsed 17 candidates and won 11 of those races. We hold politicians accountable through a sophisticated scorecard tracking not only votes, but also leadership and public engagement on climate. Our board of directors includes Bill McKibben and Jigar Shah.